Recipient of the National Award for Excellence for Library Architecture, the New Rochelle Public Library, built in 1979, in part from an existing parking garage, serves as an educational center for the City. Norman Rockwell's original mural, Land of Enchantment, his gift to New Rochelle, graces a wall in the children's reading room. The famed artist-illustrator Norman Rockwell worked and lived in New Rochelle from 1913-1939, often using local residents as models for his classic American vignettes. He was part of a thriving New Rochelle artists' community that included J.C. Leyendecker (creator of the "Arrow Shirt Man") and Frederic Remington (famous depicter of the American West). Adjoining the Library, the City of New Rochelle and the County of Westchester created Library Green, designed by landscape architect Thomas Balsley, as a tranquil respite for downtown's growing population.

Norman Rockwell

The New Rochelle Years

Norman Rockwell in the 1940s: A View of the American Homefront organized by the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA, and Norman Rockwell's New Rochelle Years, organized by Barbara Davis, New Rochelle Public Library, were the inaugural exhibits at the Museum of Arts & Culture, a program of the New Rochelle Fund for Educational Excellence.